Holly Delaney
Character History A sheltered existence. Holly Delaney was born in London, England to Andrew and Poppy Winters. Her childhood was that of a normal girl with one twist: her mother secretly taught mutants whose appearances would be too obvious in the real world. Aside from that she grew relatively normal with her little family consisting of a mother, father, and older brother. At a young age, Holly displayed a kindness and maturity well beyond her years and because of her incredible kindness her family thought that it would put her into dangerous situations and took great strength to protect her. In secret Holly grew to dislike their over protectiveness but understood that they were just trying to protect her so she grinned and accepted it. At age seven Holy began taking the violin, a part of her home schooling since her mother feared that Holly and her brother would inadvertently expose the school. She grew to love the violin and became quite gifted in it. When she was about eight, she was finally able to attend a real school. Despite her sheltered existence, Holly wound up making a few friends. Unfortunately, though, Holly had to be extremely careful about who her friends were and her parents constantly cautioned her about who she placed her trust because the secrecy of the school was more important. As a result, even though Holly was outgoing, social, and friendly, she often had to shy away to avoid unnecessary attention. Adding that to her family’s already over protectiveness due to her strong willed nature, her sheltered existence remained all the up to high school. It was during her freshman year that her friends convinced her to change her hair color from blonde to brown. She figured that if she couldn’t do any of the stuff that her other friends do, because she was usually not allowed to go with them due to her parents’ worries over their young daughter, Holly figured at this way she could do something wild while still staying close to home. She loved the rich new color, though her parents disapproved since she did it without their permission, they eventually warmed up to it. During that same year her brother soon found out that he was a mutant and was sent to the States in order to learn how to take better care of his powers. Holly missed her brother dearly and was still having trouble making friends in school. Nearly the end of her first year in a real school she started making friends and thus slowly but surely came out of her shell. A healer's touch. Over the summer before turning sixteen, Holly discovered she was a mutant when one of the mutants her mother taught got cut on the palm of her hand. Holly decided to help her out and when looking at the wound, unbeknownst the wave of concern, it started to heal when Holly’s hand hovered over it slightly. Her mother walked in right at that moment and saw the glow radiating off of Holly’s hand and the nonexistent wound on her students. When Holly's mother told her that she would not be going to Xavier's to be with her brother, Holly had to take actions into her own hands. She knew full well her powers would never develop to their potential here so, though it'd break her family's heart, late one evening Holly Delaney ran away. With what money she had she managed her way onto an airplane, getting the cheapest flight she could find with what little knowledge of computers she had, and left. Running away. When she arrived in New York City she needed some kind of transportation to get to Salem Center and the Institute. She had gotten this far but hadn't thought far enough ahead to save some pocket change to call her brother to come find her. However while musing over her dilemma she heard struggling coming from down an alley that she was about to cross. Peering inside to see if it was safe to walk past, a shot rang and three men ran out. Walking inside she saw a middle aged man wearing some kind of apron, a butcher's apron, bleeding all around. Bending down, Holly tried to save the man's life with her powers and succeeded, but left a scar. The man was so thankful to be alive that he asked if there was anyway he could repay her. Holly had found her ride. A new home and new experiences. Holly’s first year at the school was a bumpy ride to say the least, but a fun one at the same time. When she first arrived she surprised her brother with her arrival and quickly settled in. With her healing powers it was suggested, though not forced on her, that she join the infirmary staff, which she did. A little uncomfortable at first, she was quickly about to prove useful when her new friend Eve Taylor needed assistance. Holly and she, as well as her brother, Aiko and Jean-Paul, were attacked by non other than Sinister. Eve was taken and Holly was expected to show up alone. After a confrontation with Sinister, she was able to heal Eve as much as possible before suffering from a little friendly fire when Eve unintentionally attacked her out of shock. During the first two months at Xavier’s she quickly became friends with Lochlan Wyeth, a roommate of her brother, Toby. He quickly took a liking to the girl, eventually settling into a brother/sister type of relationship and much like her brother, has been ever so protective. In October she was around to heal Aiko after her kidnapping, her appearance shocking the young girl but nevertheless she did her duty as best as she could. Her powers grew consistently over the next few months afterwards as she entered a grace period of no problems on her end except minor injuries here and there. In February, Holly was accidentally shipped off to Avalon, her “sister” Diana’s grandparent’s home and assisted actually faeries in the birth of twins Tanner and Susana Sottomayor. The natural birth was grueling but she did what she could to assist the midwife and was given a book of natural and medicinal remedies as a thank you. After returning home it wouldn’t be the last time she assisted in birth as March rolled around and she helped the infirmary staffs deliver Jocelyne Oke, Caroline Davis’ daughter. When the Haiti earthquake reached the residents of Xavier’s, Holly was one of the healers who volunteered to go and help. There they encountered Sinister again as well as Nova Starr, a student who was suspected of being kidnapped by the Purifiers. Obviously brain washed, the team had to fight her off and it was then that she discovered her new ability, her death touch, which can disintegrate anything she touches. After coming back and having difficulty in controlling it, Holly was eventually able to resume duties in the infirmary. New job, new friends, new hardships. Near the end of the year, Holly took an internship with Runway Magazine, as an intern and second assistant to Miranda Bedingfield. The woman, being unlike any person she met before, is a little scary but Holly sees it as a way to further her success for the future, as those who work for Miranda for at least a year end up proving themselves in high stressful situations. Around the same time she met Tristan Black, a man she was automatically attracted to despite being simultaneously frustrated by his attitude. She couldn’t get a grasp on him who annoyed her a bit but eventually the two were able to settle into a somewhat awkward friendship though Holly still feels attraction towards him. Before summer, Holly was kidnapped by Rhian a Brotherhood member under orders by Devon, who held a deep hatred for Toby, and brought to a warehouse along with Juliet, Toby’s girlfriend. Thankfully though, Toby saved them both. Not soon after that, several disappearing started happening around the mansion. Soon enough the discovery that the Purifier’s were involved prompted Professor Xavier to send a team to the base to rescue them. Holly was part of the infirmary team sent in to heal the wounded and a side effect of Holly’s powers came out which allowed her to see mental flashes through the eyes of the victims of what had occurred. Seeing through the eyes of her friend Rowan, Holly was shocked, horrified, and traumatized by what she saw. After the events, Holly started attending regular sessions with Dr. Greene though she still has occasional nightmares of what the victims went through. Powers and Abilities Healing Holly can heal anything from a minor flesh wound to a deep wound. She could also heal broken bones from compound to simple hairline fractures. Her powers work basically through her hands and regenerate or ‘fix’ cells. Depending on the kind of damage inflicted it can either be instantaneous or it could take a long time. Holly can affect anything to do with cellular manipulation, meaning that when someone is wounded she can speed up the cells in that specific part of the body to speed up the healing process or she can repair the cells themselves (since everything is made up of cells it is what her powers are manipulating). Obviously a minor wound like a paper cut is no problem but a near severed limb is extremely difficult for her. When she first arrived to the mansion last year she had trouble with anything not having to do with wounds. But now she could redirect the path of blood, literally stopping it from seeping out and controlling it, though to an extremely minor degree. Theoretically Holly is able to cure cancer by reversing the erratic cellular division of cancer cells and heal the irregular cell division, making the cancer cells healthy again. Though as of now this aspect of her power is beyond her control. Healing psychometry A side effect of Holly’s abilities, which came about shortly after the Purifier plot, is that when healing she gets mental flashes or visions of how the person got the inflicted wound or wounds. They happen in short bursts that paint a clear picture in her mind of what happened. The mental flashes happen spontaneously, outside of Holly’s control and can come randomly long after the healing process is done and physical contact is removed. In order to get these visions, Holly must first make contract with the victim, i.e. when she heals them. With this power, she can get insight about the traumatic events if it is necessary to know about them, without having to push the victim into revealing the information and forcing them to retell, and by extension recall, the event that transpired. Death touch Like the name says this is a counterpart to Holly’s healing ability. Whereas her healing abilities are triggered with love or sadness, this destructive power is triggered through negative emotions like anger and hate. The name gives some indication that it can kill someone but it doesn’t have to. What it can do depending on how long someone is in her grip and how long she lets the power activate is that it can cause welts on the skin and burn. Holly’s hands burn with such intensity that she just needs to touch someone to give them second-third degree burns (her powers are too intense to give only first degree). Her powers pretty much fries the body from the outside and works its way in, burning up the fluids, heating the blood, and burning the organs of the body. This leaves the person (if she does kill them) horribly burned. Her powers works from the point of contact and works its way around the body as it burns up everything in sight. In severe cases the body could look black and charred. Aside from human people Holly could also burn anything else made of inorganic or organic matter. She could weld through an iron door, wood, and any kind of fabric. She cannot burn through heat resistant objects. The energy in her hands is different from her healing one. Instead of shining gold it shines red. Special Skills *Violinist *Speed reading *Medical expertise *Perfect audio memory Weaknesses She isn’t immune to people’s powers and despite the fact that she can heal anyone she cannot heal herself so if she is hit then she’s in trouble because she doesn’t self heal. Also at this point in her powers Holly is unable to heal illness such as bacterial and viral. Also she can’t purge poisons out of the body or manipulate most bodily fluids. It is speculated that her power will develop to that but so far she can only heal most injuries and redirect the flow of blood. Holly can not heal someone who is too close to death since it would be too much for her to handle at this stage. Also, even though she no longer needs to have a positive emotion to trigger it, if she has angry or hateful thoughts than her healing powers can’t come out but her adverse powers can. Holly loses energy when she is healing. The person she is healing doesn’t suck the energy out of her but manipulating the energy to heal people does take a lot of mental and physical strain and energy. When she first used her powers she would get easily tired then the more she used it the more it took a lot out of her. She could heal simple wounds without getting tired but using her powers too much wears on her. When she overexerts her powers her skin turns dark and the veins show, and her eyes turn black. This means that the energy she has is dwindling and if she doesn’t stop using her powers by then, it could kill her. If she stops before that happens than she could be rendered unconscious or go into a coma. Holly has zero control over them, meaning that she never knows when they’re coming. Sometimes they come when she’s healing someone other times they don’t. Also, she sometimes gets random bursts of information long after she removed physical contact with the person she heals, sometimes hours after, which show some of the scenes that her initial mental flash didn’t show when in their presence. This can come into the form of random visions or nightmares. As these are about traumatic events, Holly will of course suffer mentally for this and need therapy in order to deal with the visions. These powers only come from her hands so if someone were to grab her wrists or trap them in something that makes it impossible for her to use her powers than they are useless. Also, unlike her healing powers which by now she has enough handle on them that she doesn’t need to be feeling a positive emotion to bring them out, she still needs a negative emotion to bring out her powers or else it will take a long time to bring them forth without actually being in a negative state so that they come out automatically. If she is angry or scared her powers can spontaneously come out as a form of self defense making it impossible for her to touch anything. The thing with her powers is the more fear she has the longer they stay so she’d need to calm herself down for her to power down. However, the opposite can also happen were her emotions are too jumbled at her powers do not come out at all. This is an obvious sign of lack of control. It is obvious when her touch of death is present because they glow red when in use (the opposite of her healing which glows gold). A way to contain her powers is to put her hands in anything heat or if someone was heat resistant (for example Amara in her Magma form). Personality At a first glance Holly is a very social and outgoing young woman, usually the first to approach someone when she sees them alone. She doesn’t like to hold back on what she thinks and will more often than not tell you exactly what is on her mind unless she feels there is a reason she shouldn’t. She’s a helpful girl with compassion very suitable for her profession as a healer in the infirmary. Most time she is a very level headed young girl who likes to keep grasp of the situation instead of letting her emotions run rampant. She is logical and filled with wisdom well beyond her age. She likes to look at both sides of the coin before giving a final decision. She never prejudges a person but instead tries to look at all views as well as letting their actions speak for themselves. Holly is a very daring individual, always looking to experience life as well as try and learn new things. Sure some of the methods may go on the more reckless side, but Holly feels in order to experience and live life to the fullest, rule breaking is an occasional price to pay. She loves to have fun when she can and be a normal teen which matches her desire to get out and experience new things, which can sometimes land her in more trouble, but she never misses an opportunity to do something crazy and fun at least once. Extremely bright, determined, and head strong, Holly sees every opportunity as a challenge and has a thirst for knowledge that allows her to figure out often challenging answers. She’s not one to quickly give up on something and when she is invested, she gives it her all. A very loyal girl to friends and family, despite her inability to defend herself she will defend anyone of her loved ones even if it means putting herself in danger in their place. Holly, being a very logical girl, sometimes thinks with her head more often than with her heart. She’s not too logical or standoffish that she comes off cold but she doesn’t like letting her emotions get the better of her which often times results in her sacrificing what she wants in the name of practicality. Where she normally keeps a cool head no one will be able to see the current of emotions that run just under the surface. As a result she doesn’t let many of her emotions out in extremely stressful situations which make people think that she can take a lot more than what she really can, resulting in her getting overstressed and on edge easily. She gets frustrated easily when it comes to not knowing something and will often go to great lengths to figure out the answers. Once too trusting, this quality of hers hasn’t completely escaped her, though now she is more hesitant through experience. When it comes to her friends or those she knows she trusts them whole heartedly which can make betrayal all the more difficult. Holly also has a tendency to put herself in danger, unknowingly or knowingly, due to her daring and adventurous nature. Another consequence to her daring and adventurous side is her idea of trying things that often put her in situations that can land her in trouble with others. As a result, some may pin point her as reckless, childish, or rebellious when she necessarily isn’t any of those, but merely trying to try things out first hand. Despite her experiences, she still likes to see the best in people even when they don’t see it in themselves because she firmly believes that deep down no one is inherently bad or good. Relationships Family Tobias Winters Toby is Holly's older brother. He arrived at Xavier's about two years before her own powers emerged. A bit of an overprotective brother, he nonetheless cares deeply about his sister and only tries to do what is best for her, even if she doesn't think so. He's not above helping her out of a jam, like when she was arrested for driving without a license, and his always there for her when she needs him most. She finds that it is incredibly easy to get the upper hand by flashing her big blue eyes and putting a puppy dog stare. It has been proven that he is the only (or one of the few) people who cannot resist her blue eyes and is likely to let her get away with a lot or do whatever she asks. She doesn't abuse this power, but both are very well aware of it. Diana Sottomayor Holly has known Diana since she was a baby and growing up, she's considered her as more of a sister. If anything, Diana is the one person Holly looks up to the most and always tries to imitate the good aspects of her older sister's personality. When in introducing her to others, it is almost as natural as breathing to introduce her as her sister despite their obvious differences. Holly aspires to follow in Diana's footsteps and pursue a career in anthropology out of immense interest in the field. In February of 2010, Holly was whisked away along with others to Avalon and helped the midwives there deliver Diana's twins. Since coming back, she has read through a book that one of the midwives gave her with healing herbs, history, and myths of Avalon. Occasionally she babysits the twins in her free time for Diana or the twins' father, Xander. Juliet Wilford Holly didn't know that her brother was in love with anyone at the mansion until she arrived there herself. From a first meeting, Juliet was kind, compassionate, and very beautiful, everything that Holly had hoped her brother would find. Due to the both of them working in the infirmary, they were able to talk and get to know each other well. Though Holly isn't as close to her, she is nevertheless a friend and future sister in her eyes. Friends Rowan Aubergines Holly met Rowan in detention near the end of the school year and the two became insta-friends. Both have wild personalities, though Rowan is a bit more wild than her, and both have a fun loving attitude that often puts them in trouble. Despite their differences in growing up, they have a lot of things in common and have shared many adventures. Recently, Holly and Rowan have become roommates along with another friend, Eve. Elle McNabb Elle is one of Holly's best friends and the two are about as close as can be. They are always up for some fun and willing to go the extra mile for each other. They've shared many different adventures, but also hardships. Holly was the only one who knew how upset Elle was when Arthur died to protect her and spent everyday with her, helping her friend get better. Though it is still a bumpy road, Holly still tries to do everything she can to cheer all her friends up in anyway possible. Evelyn Taylor Eve and Holly's first meeting was normal, but that was about where it ended. A meeting with Sinister seemed to bond the two teens. A running joke between the two is that Holly could be anywhere, but if Eve is in distress and not in her right frame of mind, she will always hit Holly with a water attack unintentionally. This was proven twice when they first went up against Sinister and then again in Haiti. Holly and Eve occasionally tease each other with this, Eve preparing for an attack and Holly ducking behind the nearest object. Both are roommates with Rowan. Jennifer Taylor Holly met Jenny when they and a few friends snuck out to an Eminem concert and got stranded in the Bronx. They are good friends who occasionally hang out together and share a few classes. Ivy Rossum If ever there was a twin out there for Holly, it'd take the shape of Ivy Rossum. They met last year and despite several year age differences, found that they have an uncanny sense of understanding between each other. At times it seems like they know what the other is thinking, which often leads to them repeating each other's actions, unintentionally, or ideas. This 'twin-thing' that they share has caused them to constantly refer to each other as twins and, once people get past Holly's obvious accent, the people they tell it to completely buy it. Lovers Tristan Black Holly and Tristan never fully had their feet on the ground, but he is considered the first guy that Holly had ever imagined herself getting romantically involved. They met in the laundromat and they seemed to have a connection. The only problem: Tristan's flighty escapes. It seemed like the more he tried to get away from her, the harder it got and the more the sought each other out to talk. Tristan left at the start of the year, much to Holly's disappointment. She'll always consider it the 'one that could have been more'. Jacob McKnight Not soon into the new year, Holly met a new guy that she started taking an interest in. He seemed nice and smart, not to mention very attractive, and the more they talked, the more they had in common. They shared similar taste in music, literature, and seemed to always have something to talk about. More importantly, he was the first guy she was interested in who didn't run away! They went out once to a club where they both showed proficiency in dance, before leaving the club to talk more in private and in silence. Ending the date on a high note, Jake displayed a little magic and Holly gave him a kiss goodnight. Mentors Jean Grey-Summers Jean is Holly's 'boss' and runs the infirmary alongside Dr. Dominic Giovanni. She's leaned a lot from Jean since working in the infirmary, about medicine and constantly shadows her when she is working on a patient. At times, she lets Holly take the reigns with very careful supervision, and so long as the situation is very minor, and teaches her step-by-step how to do something. Had Holly not have her heart set on anthropology, she would have had a very rewarding career as a doctor. Dominic Giovanni Dominic works alongside Jean to direct the staff and its young healers who do not yet carry a degree in medicine. Holly identifies with him a little bit more due to his powers and hers being similar. Chloe Saunders Chloe is Holly's mentor and works alongside her in the infirmary. Holly looks up to Chloe, due to their powers being very similar and Holly's powers having the potential to grow and be able to do anything that Chloe is capable of doing at present. Trivia *Huge Harry Potter fan (she's read every single book) *Allergic to shellfish *Due to her previously sheltered existence, Holly has been prone to do what some may call rebellious acts just because she wants to try new things. *When she was young she had a rare strain of meningitis and was cured by Lilith. She is unaware of this. Quotes